In a Flash of White
by iWhiff
Summary: SAO told from Asuna's perspective. Asuna, a girl at the top of her class, is given the opportunity to try out the new VRMMO SAO on her brother's console. Due to cercumstances at school, she takes the opportunity and is thrust into a life or death game. Asuna x Kirito


**Hello. The idea was sort of lingering around for a while, so I decided to finally write it up. I hope you enjoy it. This chapter is really just giving the setting and such, giving you an idea of Asuna pre-SAO.**

**This will be told from mostly Asuna's perspective, but occasionally it will switch over to Kirito later on.**

** Enjoy and feel free to flame me up in the reviews if you don't like it, but please tell me what I could do to improve.**

Yuuki Kouichirou sat in his room, looking at his NerveGear gaming console with pride. It had recently arrived in the mail, after a long two weeks of waiting. He picked up the manual once again, reading it again, for at least the 4th time. He skimmed over the instructions on how to calibrate it once more, muttering to himself.

However the NerveGear wasn't the real reason he was excited. Next to him, on his computer, he had open an online game store, on a particular game's page.

This game was Sword Art Online.

It was an VRMMORPG (**Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Play Game**) game that was the reason he had bought the NerveGear, and it was due to be released in an hour. Kouichirou planned to sit at his desk and order it the second it was available, as the game was only selling 10,000 copies. It was also only available for pre-order for 1,000 people who participated in the Beta test of SAO. They all said it was amazing. SAO was all over the press. Some of Kouichirou's friends were also going to be attempting to join in the game as well.

He clenched his teeth. Kouichirou took a glance at the clock on the side of his wall. it was 11:05pm.

"Damn," he muttered to himself. "Still 55 minutes left." He turned back to his screen, rereading the game's summary again. He made sure he was logged into the website and had his credit card details in. All the necessary precautions had been taken. Good.

The next 55 minutes were extremely tense, Kouichirou was sweating with anticipation. He looked at his clock multiple times, and had to resist the temptation to play a game or do work, as he might loose track of time and miss the game. He looked at his clock once again. He narrowed his eyes.

11:58. It was almost time. He turned his head to his computer screen once again. He gave a quick, proud glance to his NerveGear once again.

"I got this far, I can't loose!" Kouichirou muttered to himself. He took a last look at the clock. Now it was down to seconds. He took a quick glance at the clock. 10 seconds left.

9

8

7

6

He moved his mouse over to the refresh page icon.

4

3

2...The last moment of suspense was enough to kill him.

1...

He clicked on refresh and the page...refreshed. Sure enough, when the page reloaded miliseconds later, there was two new Options on Screen. "Order Online" and "Add To Cart". He anxiously clicked on the "Order Online" button, and selected "instant payment". The screen said Processing.

Kouichirou started to sweat even more.

Suddenly a_ ding_! broke the silence and a message appeared on screen. It said:

**Thank you for Shopping with us! Your order, **_**Sword Art Online: Digital Edition**_**, has been processed, and you may begin your download. Installation instructions will be included in the file.**

Kouichirou had a face of pure joy. He jumped off his chair, hands in the air. He didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, he just stared at the notification. He clicked on "Start Download of _Sword Art Online: Digital Version_, and another box popped up, notifying him of the start of the download.

This time he could barely contain himself. He jumped up in the air and exclaimed that he was victorious. He instantly got a hold of himself and sighed happily, as if his work had been completed. He would download it tonight and play in a couple of days, after his buisness trip. He smiled and turned himself in to his bed for some hard-earned sleep.

-:-

Asuna woke up the next morning, staring blankly up at her ceiling. She didn't want to get up. She had spent most of last night preparing for a presentation that was due today. The project was on whether people should allow their children to play Games, and she honestly didn't care too much about it. She had played a few games with her brother when they were younger, but since she had sort of distanced herself from her brother, in order to keep at the top of her class in terms of studies.

She groaned, pulling herself into a sitting position, her caramel hair a mess. Despite her grown-up attitude, she still wore baggy pajamas, which her brother joked she was childish for. She moaned in defeat and stood up, accepting her fate. She strode over to her clothes drawer and pulled out her usual wear, a skirt, a white school shirt, and a red sweater. She put on her clothes, and looked over to her desk, which her laptop was still sitting on, charging, from her near-all-nighter.

Asuna grabbed her bag, and quickly put her laptop and a few worksheets into her bag. She had to leave soon if she wanted to go to the library before school. It was the only place outside of home that brought her peace. She wasn't particularly popular at school, being called various names, such as a Teacher's pet to a Whore. She was ridiculed for having good scores in all her tests, and the girls hated her since she was also very pretty. She also came from a rich background, having a lot of money in the bank. _(Hue)_

She walked down the stairs of her house towards the door, putting her bag down to don her shoes.

"I'm off," She said to no one in particular. She was about to leave when someone called her.

"Oh, Asuna-chan! You're leaving for school early." A male voice said from behind her. He sounded both tired and happy. Asuna turned around.

"Yes, well, Nii-San, I always leave for school at this time, in case you didn't notice." She said matter-of-factly. Kouichirou raised an eyebrow.

"No need to be so touchy, Asuna-chan. I'm just saying good morning after all.." He let out a big yawn, after it ended, planting a stupid grin on his face. Asuna looked at him, puzzled.

"What put you in such a good mood, and why do you look like a dead horse?" She asked, rather deadpan. Kouichirou beamed with a huge smile.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it! I managed to get one of the one thousand copies of Sword Art Online! I was up late ordering it, and come to think of it, the download should be done by now..." Kouichirou muttered half to himself. He turned his head back to Asuna.

"Anyway, too bad I won't be able to play it today, or hell, even this week. After all, my job does come first." He sighed. Asuna looked away and opened the door.

"I'm off. Be safe on your trip." She said with less concern than she meant. Kouichirou was too tired to notice the slight rudeness. He waved with a smile on his face.

"Don't worry. Oh! Asuna-chan, if you want to play my game for me, I won't mind. Wouldn't want to let it waste my spot would we?" Asuna scoffed.

"Not a chance, Nii-san." She walked off towards the bus stop for her bus. Kouichiro continued waving.

"Instructions are on the bed in case you change your mind!" He shouted after her. Asuna gave no sign whether she had heard or not. He smirked and went back inside.

-:-

Asuna walked through the doors of the school library, breathing out as she did in relief. The library was the only place in the school which she felt safe in. She could read in peace without fear of the other girls talking about her, at least in her face. She smiled at the librarian as she walked in, moving towards her usual seat in the back of the room, behind the bookshelves. There was a seat which she liked to occupy.

She settled down and brought out her laptop, wanting to double-check her work from last night. She wasn't sure what quality the work was, considering she had been exhausted when making it.

Looks fine to me, Asuna thought, opening her internet browser, just to see the news. She was greeted by the headline, SWORD ART ONLINE RELEASED! She rolled her eyes. It was the game Kouichirou had bought and told her she could play if she wanted to. She clicked on the article since she had nothing else to do and begun reading through it.

** Sword Art Online Releases!**

**Many people have been waiting for this moment, and it has finally come! The much awaited title for the new ****NerveGear****, Sword Art Online, has officially launched as of midnight, yesterday. Within seconds, stores all over the country were out of stock of the game, and online retailers had a massive surge of purchases at the same time. **

** The game is said o be the first to utilize the full-on environment technology of the ****NerveGear,**** and turn it into a Open-world MMORPG. The game is-**

Asuna sighed and closed the article. She wasn't particularly interested in an online game, but she thought she could use it as an example in her presentation about Games. A popular game would surely get more people interested in her speech, would it not?

She looked over her work again. She could easily add a section on the game. She read over the article again to clear the facts, and began writing.

-:-

"And that concludes my presentation. Thank you very much." Asuna bowed to the class as she finished her project. Half of the class, mainly boys, clapped with smiles. Seems she was right about including the Sword Art Online reference in there. Most of the girls didn't say anything, and just glared at her, making Asuna feel rather uncomfortable. She tried to keep smiling.

"So, are there any questions?" She asked the class. A few hands went up, so she pointed to a boy near the front.

"Kamtsu-san?" She gestured to a boy with short brown hair and green eyes. He lowered his raised hand.

"Asuna-san, how do you know about SAO? I thought it wouldn't appeal to a girl.." Asuna chuckled a little, waving her hand in a fashion that implied 'no, no'.

"No, no, my brother bought it, and was going on about it this morning, so I thought I would do a section on it, since it was related."

Kamatsu seemed satisfied and sat back down.

-:-

"I swear, now she plays games, too? Just how much of an attention whore can you be? I mean, adding a part about games so the guys would notice her, look at the way she sucked up to Kamatsu-kun!" Asuna heard a few girls mutter as she walked out of the classroom at the end of the period. Her shoulders sort of melted in embarrassment and shame as she heard those words. She didn't mean it like that at all. She walked quietly out of the classroom before anyone stopped her.

She walked down the hall towards the lunch counter, so she could buy it and go eat in a quiet place. She looked at the line, and saw it was quite short. Asuna took the chance and quickly got into the line. She looked around. Everyone was sitting in their lunch groups, laughing with each other, and enjoying themselves. She had no friends, so Asuna had to eat alone. The guys asked her often if she wanted to sit with them, but she refused, as she was both uncomfortable with them, and the fact that she would get trash-talked by the other girls for being invited to do something they saw themselves more privileged to do.

Asuna ordered her lunch, a simple sandwich and juice, and walked out of the crowded hall. There was a spot she ate in regularly, on the far side of the courtyard. No-one went there, which would mean she would be by herself in peace. No-one really gave her any opportunity to talk, which meant she had slowly given up trying.

Sitting down to eat her lunch, Asuna quietly ate. Her mind kept drifting back to what those girls had said.

_Just how much of an attention whore can you be?_ Asuna's grip on her sandwich tightened. She _wasn't_ seeking attention...was she? Asuna looked at her her food blankly. She once again heard the sound of the girl in her head.

_ Attention whore...nothing more._ The voice was loud and clear in her head. Asuna shook her head viciously, not wanting to give in to the insults. Sucking up to Kamatsu-san wasn't her intention...

Asuna shook her head and finished her lunch quietly. When she was finished, she picked up her belongings and headed to the Office. She wasn't feeling great, and wanted to go home. She would just lie about the cause, maybe a stomach ache, or a headache. They couldn't really complain, she was one of the best students in the academy.

-:-

Asuna was waiting at the bus stop to go home. She had lied and told the nurse she had a horrid stomach ache, and that she was going to see the doctor. She just didn't feel like staying at school were she was going to be made fun of for the rest of the day. It was a friday, so she didn't have to get up the next day either.

Both her parents and brother wouldn't be home for a couple of days, so she could have the whole house practically to herself. She could imagine a joke line coming from Kouichirou;

_"Don't bring any guys back now, k?" _Asuna smiled at the thought of the joke. That would be just what he would say in this situation. She thought about what she would do for the rest of the day...She hadn't really thought about it.

"Maybe I'll just go to sleep..." She mumbled to herself. There wasn't particular thing she wanted to do, so that might've been the best thing to do. She didn't really feel like moving around to much.

Remembering her presentation earlier in the morning, she perked up a bit. She had said in her report many people used games as a form of escapism from reality. Maybe she would load up her brother's old computer and run an RPG they had played when they were kids...

"Feel free to give it a go if you change your mind, I left instructions on the bed," Kouicirou's voice rang out in her head. Then she remembered, he had bought that Sword Art Online game, the one she had seen on the news. He had said that since he was going on trip for a couple of days, she could give it a whirl if she wanted. At the moment, the idea appealed to Asuna greatly.

The bus arrived, and Asuna boarded quietly and quickly. She now had something to look forward to when she got home. She looked at her watch. It was only 2:15. She had all the time in the world. She smiled a little.

-:-

"I'm home." She said to no-one when she entered her empty house, out of habit. She removed her shoes and placed her bag on the table that was located in the room to her right. Her house was quite large, that being owed to the fact that her family was the owner of a well-known hospital, with her Father being the head doctor there.

Asuna's father wanted either her or Kouichirou to inherit the business, but since Kouichirou had opted to become a worker at an electrical appliance firm, the responsibility fell to her. Not that she minded, it made it so that her life had a secure path, as long as she studied hard enough.

She walked up the stairs towards her room. She headed into her brother's room, looking for the console for the game. She wondered what the NerveGear looked like, and how to set up the game.

"Oh right, he said he'd leave instructions on his bed." Asuna murmured, remember her brother's words again. She looked over to his bed, and on top of the cushion, there was a note with a few lines scribbled on it. Asuna picked it up and read it quickly.

_ Dear Asuna-chan,_

_ Since you're reading this, it probably means you gave in and want to play my game. Although I doubt that you're actually going to, I've written some instructions down on how to get the game to work._

_ There are a few things you should have to do before you could use the NerveGear, one being calibrating your body size. You would have to touch yourself all over with the piece of equipment that I put next to it. I don't know if you have experience with that or not, but it shouldn't take too long._

Asuna went tomato red at the last sentence, but then continued to read.

_ After you finished with the sizing, all you need to do is put the helmet on and say, "Link Start", but you should probably lie down somewhere before you do. You can use my bed, I don't mind. I could brag a girl slept in it if that was the case._

_ When you get in the game, you'll have to log in. My account credentials are: Username: yu_kouichirou, and my password is sC16. Have fun, Asuna-chan!_

Asuna looked at the letter with a grin on her face. Her brother had such a flat sense of humor, and it could make her laugh no matter what.

"Nii-san, thanks..." she said quietly, and grabbed the item next to a helmet, which she presumed was the NerveGear. She looked at it for a second.

"How do I...? Well, whatever." Asuna sighed and pressed a small button on the side of the machine, bringing it to life. It spoke suddenly, jump-scaring Asuna for a moment.

"Greetings. Welcome to NerveGear calibration. It seems you already have data stored on this device, would you like to overwrite and create new file?" There was a little screen on the machine's side, which showed two options, Yes or no. Asuna pressed yes.

"You will overwrite any previously stored data now. Please begin the calibration."

-:-

Lying on the bed, Asuna placed the NerveGear helmet on her head. It was quite comfortable, which she didn't expect. She closed her eyes, preparing herself. She took a deep breath, and then said quietly,

"Link start."

It happened instantly. Asuna felt like the whole world was falling in on her head, she felt like she lost all control of her body as her vision became that of darkness for a moment, before a 'ding!' was heard and the previously black world had bursted into a bright, shining blue color. Quickly color filled Asuna's eyes, brandishing colors of green, blue and red. After a moment, a Logo appeared in the middle of her field of view.

SWORD ART ONLINE

It appeared with a tune playing in her ears, reminding her of an old game from when she was a kid. Her mouth lit up in a smile. Perhaps this wan't a bad idea.

After a moment, the Logo disappeared and Asuna was presented with a login screen. She input the credentials that were left on the note_, _and a small box appeared, saying that the login was successful. The boxes faded and she was presented with yet another box, but this one was holding a larger block of text.

_ Thank you for purchasing Sword Art Online! We hope you will enjoy your time in the game! First, you must create a character Avatar that you will use in the game, and this is how other players will see you in game. You must also choose a name, and that is how players will recognize you. Please refrain from using personal information._

Asuna pressed the accept button, leading to another screen with 2 boxes in it. One held a picture of a girl, and the other a boy. Asuna pressed the female figure, as she was a girl. The picture of the girl enlarged and multiple options appeared on both sides of the picture, ranging from 'Face', to 'Eye color', to 'Body type'.

Asuna was taken aback by the sheer amount of options available for her to choose from. Her smile grew. She could look like anything she wanted, and no-one would know it was her.

She chose a face that was both pretty and soft, which made her look gentle. Her eyes were a light shade of green, bringing out the smile quietly. For the hair, she went with a straight, long hairstyle, the hair descending down to her lower back. She opted to go for the color of dark brown, something she had always wanted, as her real hair color stood out too much for her liking.

She made the body type a slim figure, nothing too different from her in real life. It wasn't overly curvaceous, and she liked it like that. Asuna looked over the avatar for a moment before nodding happily and pressing the "Accept" button at the bottom right.

For a moment, the world went black again. Asuna panicked momentarily, wondering what had happened. she looked down, and she saw not her normal clothes, but a set of light armor. it was a pale white color, with a red breastplate and a pair of hard leather boots which extended up to just below her knees. She appeared to be floating on nothing, the whole world black, when suddenly, she burst into white shards, and her vision was flooded with color.

In front of her was a large gate made of stone, with the words 'Town of beginnings' imprinted in the center of a sign. Behind were multiple visible buildings made of stone of multiple colors and shades. In front of the gate was a statue of a unnamed man, but Asuna guessed was something to do with the lore of the game.

Looking around, she could see many more similarly excited people taking in the scenery. In the distance, she could pastures of green with what seemed like boars running amok, and a few players laughing and fighting them. Way above her, was a great stone ceiling, but it was so far up that the sky appeared blue. Asuna couldn't help but gape in awe of the scene.

"Whoa..." was all she could muster after a few moments of silence. Her hands moved towards her braids of hair, out of habit, until she realized they weren't there. She panicked, but then looked at her hair. It was dark brown, not the usual caramel.

Her avatar had worked. She was almost ecstatic. She happily ran towards the large gate.

_Hello, new world!_ Were the only thoughts running through her mind. She jogged at a steady pace through the main path in the town. She didn't have an objective, she just looked around her at all the houses and people, NPC's and players. She could see many people flirting, discussing casually, and the off couples having a go at each other.

A few players who dashed off down the road caught Asuna's attention. _They seem like they know where they're going, _she thought, and decided to follow them down their path.

Asuna had never been very good at athletics, as she actually had rather frail muscles, but in the game, she felt lighter, and ran without trouble. She could feel the adrenaline build up. The players she was following stopped quickly at what looked like a merchant, dressed in brown trousers and a light green jacket. He wore a large Bag on his back, with maps sticking out of the sides. Asuna noticed there was a large exclamation mark above his head, which was glowing a faint orange color. He talked with one of the people she followed, before the group ran off, and the man returned to stand were he was, stationary, the mark still hovering above his head.

Asuna approached him, wondering what to say. There wasn't any tutorial of any sort in the game thus far, so Asuna was rather clueless about what to do when talking to an NPC. She timidly opened her mouth and spoke.

"Um...hello." She said cautiously. The man looked at her with a beaming smile.

"Ah, hello young one. You seem to be new here, am I correct?"

"Yes, sir." His eyes became brighter with glee.

"In that case, would you like me to teach you about quests? It will be very beneficial if you've no experience in them." Asuna nodded quickly.

"Alright then," the man continued. "You saw the marker hovering above my head before you spoke to me, correct? This indicates a quest marker. You can find various people with many different types of quests for you to complete. The Orange marker, the one you saw, indicates an available quest.

"When you accept a quest, and you are in progress of completing it, you will see a dark blue marker replace the orange one. If you talk to a NPC with this icon, they'll give you a brief reminder of what they have assigned you to do.

"The last marker color appears when you have completed the required criteria for a quest. When you have done that, you must speak with the NPC again to receive the EXP and gold for the quest. Some quests will also reward you with items for your troubles."

Asuna nodded slowly. She thought she had caught everything there, and was eager to move on and maybe get a chance to try out some actual game play before she logged out to grab some dinner. The man started to speak again.

"Speaking of quests, I have a simple one for beginners like you," he said. Asuna's interest perked. "There's been a bit of trouble with the boar population recently around the area, and it would be great if you could help us thin out their numbers a bit." He looked her over a bit and let out a sudden gasp, and then sighed.

"Oh, silly me! You don't have a weapon yet, do you? Tell you what, I'll give you 150 gold that you can spend on a weapon of your choice. I'd recommend a sword, personally, but I don't judge weapon preferences." He waved his hand dismissively here. He mumbled something under his breath, sounding like "now where did I put it...". After a couple of seconds of fumbling, he brought out a small bag which jingled as it moved. He moved it into Asuna's hand.

"150 gold. Use it wisely, I think you could fit a few potions in there as well as a basic arm. Well, good luck, young lady! If you go down the road to left from here, you'll find the market."

Asuna smiled at him.

"Thank you!" she called back as she jogged off in the direction he indicated.

-:-

Asuna was walking towards the plain, where she saw other players happily hunting the boars. It looked like the quest was one of a initiation, maybe the 'tutorial', if you could call it that.

The sword she had bought was a rather simple blade made of what looked like a flat iron make, and she chose it because the clerk was selling a pack which contained a couple of Health potions as well. She figured she'd go with that as she wasn't sure how to fight.

The path to the planes were made with concrete, but around were the most beautiful flowers and grass Asuna had laid her eyes on. it just looked so natural, and since she was a city girl through and through, she reveled in the wonderful sight.

She spotted a patch with a few boars that was isolated from other players, and decided to head over there. She wasn't sure how to fight, and she had voiced this to the shopkeeper when she had bought the sword. He had told her to just 'wing it, you'll get it eventually'. She frowned.

"What, does he want me to aimlessly swing it around...?" she pondered out loud. she drew her sword and stared at it. She half-expected it to pop up with a menu full of different options, and a basic tutorial. She was disappointed, but she wasn't that surprised, honestly speaking.

She sighed and pressed her hand on the blunt edge in frustration. A small window popped up in front of it, and Asuna jumped of fright. She looked at it, and then giggled at her own stupidity. The window stated that it was an Iron Sword, and nothing else but stating it was level 1.

_Not very useful, huh? _She thought, annoyed. She pressed the box again, making it disappear. She approached the boar in front of her gingerly with her sword in her hands. The boar looked up at her and snorted. Asuna was slightly surprised.

"What?" She demanded at the boar. It snorted again. Now she was getting annoyed. She brought her sword back, and brought it down on the boar. The boar parried it with its tusks easily, knocking her aside. Asuna got up, charging straight at it. She attacked once again with her sword, but yet again it was parried.

After a while of aimlessly swinging her blade at the boar, Asuna was panting on her knees, exhausted. She had yet to bring the boar down to half health, and was getting tired. She was thirsty as well, and quite hungry, now that she thought about it.

"Maybe I should log out for a while, after all, I do have all day," She mused. She sheathed the sword which wasn't doing what she wanted, and opened up the menu. She took a glance at the time, which was showing it was only 5:25 pm. She pondered for a moment as it was quite early, and no one was at home. She had the whole house to herself, and as thus there were no pressing matters for her to attend to.

Her stomach growled, and she smiled. She navigated the menu towards where the log out button was located. There was a problem, however. Asuna's brow tightened as she looked at where the button should be.

"It's not there?" She thought out loud. She double-checked the menus she had searched, and found nothing, except for an empty button slot under the options. She stared at it for a while, confused. Was it a bug? There really was not any other explanation for it. She sighed.

"Hopefully they fix it soon, I'm hungry," Asuna said, resigning to the fact she was not able to log out for a moment. Still, she felt slightly nauseous about it, to her it didn't feel right. There was really no excuse for the Admins to not let the players log out of the game, what if they had something important to do?

She opened up her menu again, looking at it closer. It really wasn't there, all it was was an empty slot with a open door icon next to it. She closed the menu and sighed.

"I guess eating will have to wait. Well, might as well try to kill this damn thing," her stomach groaned when she finished. Asuna readied her sword again, looking at the boar. She charged at it again, this time waiting for the creature to attempt to parry her blow, and when it did, kicked its side. It stumbled over, and Asuna took the moment to bring her blade down into the boar's exposed back, impaling it.

It screamed, and the green bar above it suddenly depleted, turning red before becoming empty. It then burst into what looked like glass shards and exploded, and a box replaced it's position. It read;

Congratulation!

Asuna stared at the box for a minute, and a huge smile appeared on her face. She tossed her sword into the air, and lay down on her back on the grass.

"I did it!" She let out, in between a few pants. The game was more tiring than she expected, and her fatigue was spreading over her virtual body. She sat up, staring at the victory screen.

The boar had rewarded her with 15 gold, 30 EXP and a quest point. She checked her log, and she found she needed 10 Quest Points to finish the boar hunting task, and she sighed.

"Well, I know how to do it now, the others should be a piece of cake!" She told herself optimistically. She got up, looking for another boar to slaughter, when the strangest thing happened.

First, there were the bells. Asuna looked over to the center of the town, where she heard them coming from, and wondered what was going on. The ringing became louder, and she opened up her menu to see if there was anything.

At the top of her menu bar there was a Line of text, reading '_Forced Summoning-Game Event in progress'. _She pondered for a moment what it meant, before she was engulfed in a blue light, blinding her. She felt the peaceful plains leave her, replaced with the sound of conversation all around her. When she opened her eyes, she found she was in a large Colosseum, surrounded by large walls, and a structure in the center of it all.

All around her, people were appearing in bursts of blue light, and most were already conversing with each other, some of them shouting in outrage. Asuna looked around, she tried to search as for some clue as for what was going on.

"Look!" She heard someone shout, and she wheeled her head to look at where the boy was pointing. Up in the sky, which was tinted with the colours of sunset, there was a small, flashing red shape. It had some letters on it, but it was too far up for her to get a clear view of it. Suddenly, it spread across the sky rapidly, coating the world in red. Many people gasped in shock.

Red ooze that resembled blood heavily started to drip down from the gaps between the tiles in the sky, and converged on a single point, above the center of the Colosseum. The sight made Asuna feel rather sick as the blood-like liquid stopped pouring and merged into what looked like a hooded man. She heard a few people around her talking rapidly.

"A game master?" One shouted, sounding surprised.

"Why doesn't it have a face?"

"What's the meaning of this?!"

Asuna looked up at the figure, and it raised its arms up, in a welcoming gesture. People had started to quiet down and had turned their attention to the supposed Game Master, to hear what it had to say. It looked down at them.

"Welcome, players," It began, speaking with a loud and authoritative voice, causing the remaining people who were still conversing to turn their heads to him and shoot questioning glares. The GM paused for a moment, then continued.

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and I as of this moment, I am the sole person who controls this world." The whole stadium erupted into noise again.

"Seriously?! That's Kayaba?!" Asuna heard a guy shout next to her. She pondered for a moment, and then remembered that this was the man who made the game. The news article she had read in the morning earlier had mentioned him. Why he had decided to summon all the players to him, she did not know.

"As I'm sure most of you are aware, the log out button is missing from the main menu. This is not a defect in the game. I repeat," he paused, allowing his awed audience to take in what he had just said, and then continued. "This is _not _ a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online."

Confused murmurs could be heard throughout the players.

"You cannot log out of the game yourselves, and no one from the outside can remove the NerveGear from your heads. Unfortunately," Asuna's mouth was hanging open at this point, but she was unprepared for what she was going to hear next.

"Two hundred and thirteen player's friends and families have tried to remove the console in such a manner, and such, the NerveGear has fried their brains, leaving both Aincrad and the real world."

Many gasps could be heard, all of them shocked. Asuna was rather confused, along with being incredibly shocked, and she listened in on one of the nearby conversations.

"Two hundred and thirteen, the guy's lying, right, Kirito?" A male voice asked the boy next to him.

"No, the NerveGear emits signals similar to microwaves. If you disabled the safety, it is possible it could release a wave that would fry your brain, so in other words, yeah, you could die," another voice said in reply to the first. The other boy looked shocked.

"Wait, seriously!? Why would anyone want to do that?!"

"I'm sure he'll tell us..." he pointed up at Kayaba with the sound of hatred in his voice. Asuna returned her attention to the hooded man. It waited before the majority of the people gathered turned up to look at him, and then began to speak again.

"The only way to log out of the game is to clear it," he began, pausing for dramatic effect.

"You must fight your way through all 100 floors of Sword Art Online, and defeat the final boss who resides on the final floor." Asuna was just listening in shock.

"Players, you should also note that there is no longer a way to revive yourself or an ally in the game. Should your HP bar drop to zero," he looked down. "Your avatar will be deleted, and the NerveGear will fry your brain, leaving both this world...and the real one."

"I have left a gift in each of your personal Inventories. I suggest you take a look now," he waved his hand to the side, an inviting gesture.

_In my inventory..._Asuna wondered, puzzled. She brought up her menu and selected the Inventory tab, which all she had earlier were the Sword and 2 Health potions. However, there was now another item, which was simply called 'Mirror'.

"A mirror?" She mused, and selected it. A small, hand sized mirror appeared in her hand. She looked into it, and saw her Avatar staring back at her.

_What's this about?_ She thought, but was brought out of the daze by a nearby player erupting into flames. She gasped in pure shock, and looked around as more and more people burst into fire. Asuna cried out, as she too was engulfed in the flames.

A few moments later, the blue light faded. Asuna opened her eyes and looked around. It took her a few moments to notice, but she figured out that something was wrong when she heard the shouts and screams of nearby players. She looked at the boy next to her...but wait. He wasn't there a moment ago. She looked around in panic, none of these people were there before.

"You're Kirito?!"

"You're Klein?!" Asuna looked over and caught a glimpse of two guys, pointing at each other in a shocked fashion. They looked completely different than they did a second before.

Panicking, Asuna looked down into her mirror, and saw a pretty face with with long, caramel hair staring back at her, her eyes wide with fear. Staring at the face she realized.

That was her real face.

She dropped the mirror in shock, and started touching her character's face. Small noises of shock escaped her lips as it dawned on her. She brought a strand of her hair into her field of view and saw that is was not the dark brown she had chosen, but the light, soft caramel color she held in real life.

This was her real body.

She opened her mouth but no words came out, instead her eyes going back up to the figure who had caused all of this.

"Asking yourself, 'why would Kayaba Akihiko, creator of sword art online and the NerveGear, do this?' My goal has already been achieved. Good luck, players..." As he said the last words, the figure melted away and the sky cleared, leaving everyone, now in their original bodies, silent. Then, just as it had become quiet, noise rose up suddenly.

Screams could be heard at this point, a lot of players were not taking this very well. Asuna looked down at her hair in disbelief.

_He's lying right? He has to be lying...He has to be! _ Were the only thoughts running through her mind, as her legs gave out. She fell to the ground, tears in her eyes. She stared blankly at the ground as people all around her were screaming and crying themselves dry.

-:-

A week had passed since then. By this time, more than 300 players had fallen, each having their names imprinted on a stone which marked the deceased. Some had been unlucky during a fight. Some had run out of healing items, or went against a hard monster alone.

But some had died by their own accord.

A number of players couldn't take it anymore, and had ended their lives prematurely. No one had found the boss's room yet, and a lot of people were giving up.

Asuna had rented a room at an Inn, and hadn't come out since she had regained her senses after the event. She had locked herself in, with a few food rations and her sword. She lay on the bed, covered in the bedsheets.

_Maybe this is for the better..._She thought melancholy. _Now everyone else won't have to put up with me..._ She knew it was a lie, but saying made her feel slightly better. She didn't want to face the fact that she had endured the bullying, the feeling of Isolation, all for nothing. The dream she ahd, to become a world-renowned doctor, shattered by one man. The man she now hated with her entire being.

Kayaba Akihiko. She clenched her covers. It was _HIS _fault, _HIS_ alone that she would be unable to achieve her dream, after all that she had suffered. She began to sit up.

"I'll show him..." She muttered slowly.

"I'll prove it..." She muttered again, more powerfully, rising from her seat on the bed.

"I'll beat this game, and I'll do it as me!" Asuna shouted, rising her fist into the air. She picked up her sword, placing it in her inventory for the time being. She checked the clock. it was 9:30 at night. She smiled. She opened her door with new found determination.

"Get ready, Kayaba..."

**Let me know what you think :) I think maybe I rushed the last part a bit, but that's just me. This will not, and I'm going to make this clear, not be canon. By that I mean I'll rewrite the things I thought were...substandard in the show. You know, keep it more life-or-death instead of the art of online harems.**

** Reviews are appreciated :)**


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